Description
Royal Fleet Reserve Long Service and Good Conduct Medal, awarded to Leading Stoker William Henry Hance who had served aboard H.M.S. Forward and was aboard her patrolling the East Coast of England when the Germans bombarded Hartlepool in mid-December 1914 comprising Royal Fleet Reserve Long Service and Good Conduct Medal, GVR, (S.S.111867 (C.H.B11779) W.H. Hance, L. Sto. R.F.R.), toned fine.
H.M.S. Forward, (Forward Class Cruiser) was the sister ship to H.M.S. Foresight. After the beginning of the First World War in August 1914, Foresight was initially assigned to the Dover Patrol and was then transferred to a destroyer flotilla patrolling the English Channel. Forward was assigned to coastal defence duties on the East Coast of England; she was present when the Germans bombarded Hartlepool in mid-December 1914 but played no significant role in the battle. The sisters were sent to the Mediterranean in 1915 and were then assigned to the Aegean Sea a year later and remained there until the end of the war.
Leading Stoker William Henry Vance was born on the 17th of April 1893 and joined the Royal Navy on the 29th of March 1910 a Bricklayer’s Labourer from Dagenham, Essex. He served aboard H.M.S. Forward from the 4th of May 1914 to the 21st of July 1918. He was discharged from the Royal Navy on the 13th of March 1919 and joined the Royal Fleet Reserve on the 14th of March 1919. He was finally discharged form The R.F.R. on the 14th of June 1931. He is also entitled to a 1914-15 Star Trio. Sold with Copy Service papers and Great War Medal Roll.
